Meal Planning Made Simple

Welcome to Homemaking Tips Tuesdays where contributing writers share helpful homemaking tips so you can feel more successful caring for your home and family.

{This week, post by: Jessie}

The kids are back to school and the holidays will be here before we know it.  Fall sports and recreational activities are gearing up, and life is busy again.  Many moms are left thinking, what’s for dinner?  In this three part series, I’ll offer you meal planning made simple tips to streamline mealtime and take some of the stress out of your evening hours.

It has been said before, and I’ll say it again, the best way to prepare for dinner, is to PREPARE.  Planning out what you will be feeding your family ahead of time, and preparing some of the ingredients you will need to make each meal can save you so much stress (and money). You don’t have to settle on which meals you will be eating for the entire month, or even what you will be having each night of the week.  But a little planning goes a long way!  

 

Destressing Dinner Series: Meal Planning Made Simple

As with most habits, you need to practice them regularly to make them stick.  Here are a few of the ways meal planning made simple works in my house.

Create a Menu Board

It can be as fancy as the one shown above or as simple as a plain piece of paper hung on the refrigerator.

I typically go grocery shopping on the same day each week.  A day or two before my trip to the store, I review our calendar and talk over the upcoming days with my husband. I consider:

Are there any nights he will be working late? 

Do we have dinner plans with neighbors or friends this week? 

I write everything down on our menu board and put it where my husband and I can both see it.

I do this mostly so I don’t have to hear him or the kids ask me a bazillion times what’s for dinner tonight! It is also as a reminder to pull something from the freezer if needed.

Here is an example:

Monday: Meal One

Tuesday: Dance Class (Crockpot or Make Ahead Meal)

Wednesday: Left Overs

Thursday: Meal Two (Daddy home late)

Friday: Meal Three

Saturday: Out

Sunday: Meal Four or Leftovers

Your week may look completely different than mine depending on what activities your family is involved in.

If you really love to cook, add in another meal. 

If you hate to cook or have sports more than one night a week, eat out one additional night or throw in an additional frozen meal. 

The point is to have a flexible plan, even if your schedule varies from week to week.

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How to make the cork menu board:

1. Paint the back board of a picture frame with chalkboard paint.
2. Hot glue corks around the frame. (If desired.)
3. Buy pre-made wood letters. Paint as desired, and hot glue them to the painted board.
4. Use chalk to write your weekly menu plan, and erase to adjust as needed.

 

 

How to make a dry erase menu page:

1. Type or write out a list of days on a piece of paper. Leave space between each name. (Jaimi created a table with 1 column and 7 rows in a Word document. She then typed one day in each box in the top left corner of each row. The rest of the space in each row gives room for the name of a meal each day.)
2. Print it out.
3. Slip the paper into a plastic page protector sleeve.
4. Write your menu plan with dry erase marker.

 

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Have a Mom’s-Not-Cooking-Night

Wait, what?  You mean you get a night off? 

Well, not exactly (unless your hubby likes to jump in and make dinner or you are ordering take out).

You’ll notice that typically once a week, I serve my family something pre-made from the freezer.  Another night we clean out the fridge.  I am still responsible for making sure dinner is ready, but by working a little harder ahead of time, I can spend that evening focusing on something else.

By planning ahead and not pressuring yourself to cook each night you can feel less stressed about meal time throughout the week.   Just don’t forget to turn on the oven, or start the crock pot!

Make Ahead Meals

While some moms enjoy stocking their freezer with Ziploc bags full of pre-cut veggies and seasoned meat, you can get away with simple meal prepping just once a month.

Here’s a simple way to tackle a month’s worth of meal prep:

1. Begin by doing one large shopping trip for your proteins for the entire month (I usually shop Costco, but you can stock up whenever your grocery store is having a great sale on meat).
2. Leave a portion of your protein uncooked and in the refrigerator to be used that week for dinner.
3. Freeze a portion of your uncooked protein so you can pull it out during the month and cook with it.
4. Cook the remaining protein and then freeze it.  Use this pre-cooked protein for a dinner later in the month.  For example, leftover Cilantro Chicken or Salsa Chicken can be used to make White Chicken Enchiladas, White Chicken Chili, or Quesadillas.

Pre-cooked shredded chicken can be used for a countless number of recipes, to include Buffalo Chicken, Chicken Soup, Chicken Salad, BBQ Chicken, Casseroles, Salad and Pizza Toppers.  You get the point.

Ground beef is extremely versatile as well.  Bobotie is a favorite meal for my family (trust me when I say this is sooooo good). [Click here to download the recipe.]

I leave some of the beef raw for later in the week, and cook the rest to be used later in the month in Meat Pies, Curry Croquettes, Beef and Cheese Muffins, Chili, Enchiladas, Tacos, Thai Lettuce Wraps and Stuffed Cabbage.

You don’t have to plan for each of the meals listed.  The point is to have a few pounds of cooked meat that you can use as a short cut later in the month.

Soups are also extremely versatile and can be made using precooked meat, or doubled and thawed for a later meal.  Some suggestions are Ham and Potato Soup, Pea soup, Hamburger Soup, and Sausage and Cauliflower Soup.  (Are you getting hungry yet?).  Extra turkey or chicken can be used to make a delicious deconstructed pot pie. [Click to download the recipe.]

Quick tip: If you have a recipe your family loves, double it and freeze it for later in the month!

You do not need to spend an entire day in the kitchen or stock your entire freezer full of crockpot recipes.  You can stress a bit less if you prepare just one or two extra meals at the beginning of the month.

Important reminder: meat can only be frozen and thawed once. 

One last tip, keep a list handy of meals you do have in the freezer.  (You can download a printable freezer inventory in this post.) That way when you are planning your menu for the week, you can reference your list instead of digging through the freezer or forgetting about items you have already prepped.

Keep it simple

I drool over the fancy dishes prepared on the Food Network. Once in a while (usually on the weekends when I know my husband will be home) I do my best to recreate them.  But the reality is your family would rather have something simple and delicious then have you slave in the kitchen for hours each night.

Side dishes can be pretty simple too.  We do a lot of side salads or veggies seasoned with butter or a little bit of salt.  There is no need to pressure yourself into trying every exotic produce at the market or blanch, sauté, steam and sear your way through a five course meal each night.

There is no shame in taking certain short cuts while at the grocery store either (think rotisserie chicken, precut frozen veggies, or store bought salsa)! 

Stick with what works

I love Pinterest and Yummly, but who has time to make every recipe they have pinned!

My grandmother used to prepare the exact same meals five days a week. Saturday she would add something new to the rotation, and Sunday they would eat out for dinner.

I can’t help but think of how boring that might have been, sitting down every night knowing you were going to be eating pork chops on Monday, Lasagna on Tuesday etc.  It must have been really easy for my grandmother to plan ahead each week (and easy to budget for groceries too).

If your family has a few favorite dishes, make it for them once or twice a month.

Do your kids like steamed broccoli?

Great!  Serve it on Monday, and again on Thursday.

My kids love peas straight from the freezer, no prep work involved!

If I do have a new, more involved recipe I want to try, I save it for an evening when I know my husband will be around to help out with the kids. The rest of the week, I would rather spend my time cooking something I know my family loves, rather than trying to reinvent the dinner wheel.

Take the time to plan ahead, cook simple meals, and cook family favorites.  You’ll be able to spend more time as a family and less time stressing in the kitchen.

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Jessica is a stay at home mom of two lovely little girls.  She is also a military spouse and an entrepreneur.  Jessica enjoys staying active and spending time outdoors with her family, cooking, and reading.  In addition, Jessica is hard at work growing her company Five O’Clock Jelly.

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Enjoy your time at home!